university project using 74xx series counters - in need of assistance

Hello everybody,

I would really appreciate it if you gave me some help/advice/ideas for a university project using 74xx series counters and logic gates. The thing is that two different students can't do the same project, so i need something rare. The ideal project would be 4-5 IC's without counting leds or BCD displays.
Anything would be acceptable.
Thanks